{"id":3989,"date":"2017-12-14T09:43:58","date_gmt":"2017-12-14T09:43:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.larkreviews.co.uk\/?p=3989"},"modified":"2017-12-14T09:43:58","modified_gmt":"2017-12-14T09:43:58","slug":"english-national-ballet-the-nutcracker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/?p=3989","title":{"rendered":"English National Ballet: The Nutcracker"},"content":{"rendered":"

London Coliseum, 13 December 2017<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been listening to Tchaikovsky all my life and I still marvel at how he does it: melody after soaring melody. And of course he\u2019s at his sparkling best in ballet with all those waltzes, mazurkas, hornpipes, martial interludes and the rest, all sumptuously orchestrated.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

However well you know it, and however popular it is, the Nutcracker<\/em> score is, well, a cracker and it\u2019s in very capable hands with Gavin Sutherland and English National Ballet Philharmonic in this production which dates from 2010. \u00a0After a slightly shaky, thin textured start on press night the orchestra quickly settled to produce a rich, crisp sound. Sutherland takes most of the set pieces in Act 2 at a slower tempo than many conductors which means that every little bit of orchestral detail is made to shine through. The rising scales at the beginning of Act 2, for example, pack real drama and the trumpet in the Spanish dance beams out. And he makes sure that we are all very conscious of the musical chemistry between the celesta and bass clarinet during The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.<\/em><\/p>\n

Meanwhile there\u2019s some very pleasing work on stage too. Wayne Eagling\u2019s choreography and Peter Farmer\u2019s designs give us a strong sense of the family home which frames the action \u2013 its exterior, inside for the Christmas party and the intimacy of Clara\u2019s bedroom where the child falls asleep and begins to dream.<\/p>\n

Shiori Kase is delightful as the adult Clara who becomes the lead dancer in the dream sequence. Her pas-de-deux with Guilherne Menezes (also excellent) is both spectacular and elegant \u2013 and, of course, accompanied by, arguably, the best music in the piece with that stupendous timpani roll at the climax, impeccably played here.<\/p>\n

The children (from Tring Park School for the Performing Arts and English National Ballet School) do well too especially in the formation dances at the party in act 1. And they form a choir in a side balcony for the continuo section in the big Act 1 waltz. Of all the children Noam Durand as Clara\u2019s naughty little brother, Freddie, is the most engaging.<\/p>\n

Junor Souza is an imposing Drosselmeyer dancing with Clara \u2013 sometimes in a trio with the Nutcracker \u2013 but there\u2019s a narrative problem. The whole point of the Act 2 set pieces is that it\u2019s all a treat for Clara. If she\u2019s off stage \u2013 as in this production \u2013 then you would be forgiven for wondering why Drosselmeyer suddenly morphs into a faintly menacing impresario. But it\u2019s a minor grumble in a production which is full of colour \u2013 both visual and aural \u2013 and warmth and imaginative ideas.<\/p>\n

No Christmas is complete without a good Nutcracker<\/em>. And there are a number around at the moment. This enjoyable one will do me very well for this year. SE<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

London Coliseum, 13 December 2017 I\u2019ve been listening to Tchaikovsky all my life and I still marvel at how he does it: melody after soaring melody. And of course he\u2019s at his sparkling best in ballet with all those waltzes, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3989"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3989"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3989\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3991,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3989\/revisions\/3991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}